http://radio.foxnews.com/2014/09/18/obama-slow-walks-isis-war-let-the-next-president-handle-it/OBAMA SLOW WALKS ISIS WAR: LET THE NEXT PRESIDENT HANDLE IT
by John Gibson
Once again yesterday President Obama went to Central Command in Tampa, Florida, to lay down the law.
“The American forces that have been deployed to Iraq do not and will not have a combat mission,” he declared. ” As your Commander-in-Chief, I will not commit you and the rest of our Armed Forces to fighting another ground war in Iraq.”
Instead, the President said, American forces will support regional powers as they fight ISIS. There is a certain logic to this approach that is undeniable: the immediate threat of ISIS is to Sunni and Shia muslim countries in the Middle East and it certainly is their fight.
The problem is those countries cannot be counted on. Many have noticed no particular rush to field an anti-ISIS force on the part of the parties Secretary of State John Kerry says have joined the coalition. In fact, yesterday in Senate hearings Kerry told Senator Bob Corker that we–the United States–haven’t asked the “coalition” members to contribute ground troops yet.
Meanwhile, the background lurking behind President Obama’s hurried and emphatic declaration that will be no American troops on the ground fighting in Iraq is the stark reality of disagreement with his own military Generals.
Most prominently the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, testified before a Senate committee that if he felt the use of American ground troops against ISIS were required he would make that recommendation to the President. “To be clear, if we reach the point where I believe our advisers should accompany Iraqi troops on attacks against specific ISIL targets, I will recommend that to the President.” Dempsey added, in response to a question, “My view at this point is that this coalition is the appropriate way forward. I believe that will prove true but if it fails to be true and there are threats to the United States then I would of course go back to the President and make a recommendation that may include the use of U.S. Military ground forces.”
The President’s flat declaration that there will be no American troops on the ground came after Dempsey’s remarks in Senate hearings. Plus, the President has repeatedly turned down requests–recommendations–for American troops in Iraq from Centcom commander General Lloyd Austin.
Meanwhile, the President has also declared ISIS to be a threat that must be “degraded and destroyed”. He has asked Congress to approve $500 million in funding to train and equip a force of 5,000 coalition troops to fight ISIS.
While a wide range of military experts and former commanders are insisting the need to confront ISIS is urgent and needs to be undertaken immediately before ISIS consolidates the territory it is now holding and gathers and even larger terrorist army, the force Obama is putting together is expected to be in training for at least a year, and the President is projecting the effort against ISIS will take three to five years.
We know the President was elected on an anti-Iraq war obsession, we know he is absolutely phobic about keeping American troops in Iraq under his watch for any reason, and we now know that his timetable for fighting ISIS extends beyond his term in office.
Conclusion: he is leaving the order to send in American ground troops for the next President.
I see no other way to explain the facts we see.
But evidently the President didn’t like the sound of Dempsey’s remarks.
The very next day the President travelled to Tampa, Florida, where Centcom, headed by General Austin, is headquartered. General Austin has twice (that we know of) recommended American ground troops in Iraq to fight ISIS. The first was his advice to leave troops in Iraq to continue to train Iraqi forces and provide a bulwark against the rise of a group like ISIS. Later, as ISIS stormed across Iraq cutting off heads and committing mass executions, General Austin again recommended President Obama authorize the use of American ground forces in the fight against ISS. The President refused both recommendations.
But all of this is confusing to everyone, except the White House. If Obama’s own handpicked Generals are certain American ground forces are needed, and saying so publicly despite their certain awareness of the President’s obvious prohibitions, what’s going on here? Is there a quiet uprising among the top brass against the President’s stated policies?
Evidently President Obama thought he need to clear up the issue. Yesterday he went before the troops at Centcom in Tampa and said this: “The American forces that have been deployed to Iraq do not and will not have a combat mission. As your Commander-in-Chief, I will not commit you and the rest of our Armed Forces to fighting another ground war in Iraq.”
